Motown Musician to Screen, Discuss ‘Unsung’

**marv2** · 01-20-2016, 11:17 PM

http://www.hometownlife.com/story/ne...sung/78426568/

**theboyfromxtown** · 01-21-2016, 05:24 AM

Interesting. I seem to recall I wrote to him after he posted some stuff on Youtube.

Good to see his idea has came to fruition. I just wish it was available to more people

**edafan** · 01-21-2016, 11:20 AM

Can anyone from SDF go to the event; and either post a review here; or get him to post on here; it sure would be interesting
edafan

**marybrewster** · 01-21-2016, 12:07 PM

I wonder how this will differ from "Standing in the Shadows of Motown"?

**StuBass1** · 01-21-2016, 01:47 PM

Duane contacted me to tell me about this project. I salute his efforts to highlight more of the behind the scenes activity at Motown highlighting many musicians who also played a significant role in the Motown story. Following the recognition of Standing In The Shadows Of Motown, other documentary type films like Denny Tedesco's Wrecking Crew, 20 Feet From Stardom, and a couple of others have highlighted some of the unsung participants in the music scene from the early days of pop/rock/soul music. SITSOM was the story of a small clique of rhythm musicians at Motown [[The Funk Brothers) who as a unit played on virtually all the hits from Motown's Detroit era. There was some confusion by some as to who were actually "Funk Brothers", with some believing that virtually every musician who played on a Motown track was a Funk Brother. When I became involved in sponsoring them for several awards and recognitions, I used to get calls from various individuals who's friend or relative played on sessions at Motown and believed that they should be recognized as "Funk Brothers"...some quite insistent. The SITSOM film narrowed it down to 13 recognized Funk Brothers based on a variety of factors, including some of those surviving musicians who agreed to participate in that project. Once those 13 members, the survivors signing legal documents officially forming what had been a group in name only...there were 13 official members of The Funk Brothers. Yes, I received calls from on behalf of some individuals who believed they should have been included in certain honors...particularly the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, however, once an argument was made on one individual, you could end up making the same argument on behalf of other individuals and the entire thing would have gotten out of control and would have likely blown up. When I submitted the original nomination, it was about 13 official Funk Brothers, and through the nearly 5 years process of the nomination being approved and the fundraising efforts, I was continually warned by the powers to be that if people started coming out of the woodwork claiming to have been unfairly excluded, or claiming Funk Brothers status...that the whole thing would blow up and the entire project would be cancelled, and I'm sure that a few individuals hold me personally responsible for them being what they believe to be, unfairly excluded...However, I had nothing to do with the documentary, nor did I have anything to do with who were named in legal documents as actual Funk Brothers, and I stuck to that in all of my nominating efforts [[Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and Hollywood Walk Of Fame)......That said...I recognize that many musicians...particularly horn and string players [[and backup singers too) who contributed so much to the success of Motown, in light of the other recent projects I've mentioned, will now be recognized in this new Unsung film and it's a great thing...particularly by those of us who know and knew many, if not most of these terrific musicians. Kudo's to Duane on what I know to be tireless and demanding efforts to put such a project together...I've seen the trailer and look forward to enjoying the entire film...